Lantern



May 27, .1930.v

J. JUERGENS LANT ERN Filed Feb. 28, 1927 INVENTOR Patented May 27, 1930 UNITED STATES JOHN JUERGENS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,

PATENT OFFICE KOSTELING, JR., OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, AND ONE-HALF TO NFLLS H. RASMUSSEN,

0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS LANTERN Application filed February 28, 1927. Serial No'. 171,558.

These improvements have a more particularrelation to lanterns especially adapted for use on automobiles and the like. The construction illustrated is typically a taillight for such vehicles.

The principal objects of the improvements are to provide a simple and unusually strong construction, one of substantially few parts, one readily to be assembled, one which may be applied and removed very readily and without the use of tools, one in which the lamp or lamps proper may easily and quickly be replaced, and one according to which the interior is maintained substantially dry and free from dirt and dust. Other objects and advantages will appear hereinafter. In the drawings Figure 1 is a face elevation of my improved lantern in a` preferred form as const-ructed for a tail-light having a stop-warning feature in addition to the fundamental tail-light feature; Fig. 2 is a medial vertical section of the device as on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1 or of Fig. 3; Fig. 3 is a vertical section at right angles to that of Fig. 2, as on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view on the broken line 4 4 ofFig. 3; and Fig. 5 is a fragmentary detail of the bracket showing in full lines features shown by dotted lines in Fi 3.

rlhe body 10 is shown as a casting and is preferably of aluminum out of considerations of weight and nish. It includes a pair of what may be substantially thin flaring side walls 11 meeting in a rounded top 11a, anda rear wall 12 having a shape defined by that of the side walls Aand closing the rear except for certainy openings therethrough. A pair of inwardly projecting lugs 13 accommodate the threaded ends of bolts 14 passing through holes in the bottom glass 15. This bottom glass is seated in a continuous recess numbered 16 (Fig. 3) in the side walls, numbered 17 in the rear wall (Figs. 2 and 3), and numbered 18 in the lower reach 20 of the `front wall (Fig. 2). Between the glass 15 and these seats 16, 17 and 18 there is a gasket 21 given the reference character 21 for all locations and which through which the light uninterruptedly plays upon the number-plate of the automobile, may very readily be applied firmly,

strongly and tightly for the exclusion of moisture, dirt and dust at its connections lvith the body or frame, and at the holding o ts. The front Wall of the housing includes a framev which is integral with the rest of the body casting. Fig. 1 shows its several parts to comprise the bottom reach 20, flaring side reaches 24, and a rounded top reach 25, with a cross reach 26 extending from side to side. The effective front wall of the housing kincludes also the upper glass plate 27` 4and the lower glass plate 28, each of these plates having a contour defined by the surrounding frame parts of the front wall and being flanged at 27a and 28a respectively, Fi .2, to provide a holding engagement with t e metallic frame of the housing. It is to be understood that these flanges 27'1 and 28a are continuous about the periphery of the respective plates. Between the flanges 27 a and the frame parts there is a gasket 29 and between the flanges 28a and its frame parts there is a gasket 30. Between the upper and lower glass plates the gasket 31 is common to the flanges 27 a and 28a at that place. These gaskets may be considered permanently cemented in place.V

The gasket 31u is at the front edge of` a partition plate 32 dividing the hollow interior into two compartments. This partition extends between the lower edge of glass 27 and the upper edge of glass 28. It is held in place at its rear edge by a recess 33 (Fig. 2) in the rear wall 12.

The upper glass 27 is held in positionby a pair of screws 34 (see Fig. 4) each having a slightly enlarged screw-threaded head 35 threaded through the rear wall 12 and a boss 36 thereon, the rounded front end of the screw being seated in a depression`37 in the l Washers 23 of rubberglass 27. The lower glass 28 is held by a pair of screws 89 in all respects like the screw 34 shown in Fig. 4. 4 shows that the head 85 enters the rear wall 12 sufficiently to lie flush with the outer surface thereof, and the same is true of screws 39.

The front glass members 2'? and 28 are assembled with the frame before the bottom.

glass l is applied. The order of assembly is first to insert glass 27, applying the screw 34 into holding engagement with it. rEheV partition 82 is next applied, and then follows the application of the lower glass 28,

the screws 39 holding it firmly.. The bottom glass 15 is then positioned as shown. When the parts are thus assembled. there is produced a weather-tight and dust-tight l.compartment so far as the joints between the` glass members and the frame parts are conj cerned, and the unit thus produced may readily'be applied to a suitable bracket and easily removed ,therefroin while maintaining a weather-proof and dust-proof connection in accordance with the description ofthe lantern-supporting means next to follow.

The several figures show a bracket 40 inV 43 having the width of the bracket interposed between the bracket and the rear wall 12.`

This gasket may be of rubber or similar inaterial. The lantern is held upon the bracket by three screw devices, two at the top androne at the bottom. At the top the two screws 44 are respectively threaded tightly at 45 (Fig. 4) through the wall 12 and the bosses 46 thereon, and a finger-nut 47 is threaded upon the outer threaded end of each screw 44.

The upper portion of the bracket 40 is provided with a pair of downwardly extending recesses 48 (Fig.V` 5) adapted to accommodate the bolts 44. F ig. 4'shows that the nuts 47 hold the upper portion of the lantern body firmly upon' the bracket in such manner as to compress the gasket 48 and maintain the tight condition desired. I

The lower portion ofthe lantern body is held by a single screw 50y which, like the screws 44, is threaded through wall 12 and the boss marked 51 integral with the rear wall 12. The bracket 40 is provided with a slot'- like opening 52 through which the bolt 50 extends and through which it may ride, this elongated opening 52 being on the arc of a circle the radius of which extends to the upper left-hand bolt 44 ofFig. 8, namely theV one through which-the section line' 4 4 is taken.` yThel elongated opening y52 widens The bracket 40 extendsinto a circular opening 53 large enough to permit the finger nut 54, Fig. 2, to pass through it.

Fig. 3 shows the lantern body normally held on the bracket. Assuming that the upper nuts 47 and the lower nut 54 are retracted it is clearl that the lower portion of the body of the lantern, which carries the screw 50,

may be swung to theright as viewed in Fig;

3 so that the nut 54 is carried into .line with the enlarged opening 58 in the bracket 40. When in such relationto the lower portion of the lantern body may be drawn directly away from the bracket and the lantern body as a whole lifted out of relation to the bracket, the bolts 44 simply coming out of the recesses 48. It is to be notedvthat forremoving orf" applying the lantern body to the bracket no tools are required and that the operation may be performed in a very easy and simple way and in a very brief space of time.

The upper filament lamp 60 projects into a socket member 61 (of well known construction) permanently secured to and passing through the bracket 40, while the lower bulb 62 is similarly held by the socket member 68 also rigidly held by and extending through the bracket. When the lantern body is removed the lamps are in the most easily accessible positions, being carried by the bracket. In order to provide that the lantern body may be removed in the manner described when the bulbs are'in place the rear wall 12 of the lantern body is providedv with an enlarged opening 65 vwhich is not only large enough to permit the bulb 60. to.:

pass through it, but which is elongated in the.

direction shown by Fig. 3. Similarly the rear wall 12 isprovided with an enlarged open.V ing 66 to permit the lamp 62 to vpass 'through direction shown. the openings 65 and 66 is to permit the lateraly swinging movements of the lantern bodyde- Y scribed in connection with the operation of",

removing the lantern body from the bracket. Since these enlarged openings 65 and 66 are within the area of the gasket 43, which lis to be understood as being coeXtensive with the bracket 40 throughout that Vpart of the;

bracket which overlies the rear wall 12, these. openings 65-and 66 are effectively sealed, for the gasket is to ybe understood. as fitting tightly around the socket members 61 and 63, the gasket preferably beingpermanentlycemented to the bracket.

I have thus illustrated and described a uniquev construction Vwhich is exceedingly simple and has many notable advantages over all kinds and types of lanterns heretofore suggested for the saine or analogous purposes and of which I have become aware.

It will be readily appreciated that the bulb 60 illuminating the upper' compartment is. to

be electrically connected'in practice to conl ics it, this opening 66 being also elongated in the rlhe reason vfor elongating trol means according to which it is illuminated and a signal thereby given when the driver of the car is about to stop, while the bulb 62 illuminates the lower compartment and provides a permanent rearwardly-directed signal through the glass 28, which is usually red, and a permanent downwardlydirected light upon the number-plate through the white glass l5.

Various modifications in shape, arrangement of parts, number of compartments, and mechanical constructions may be made without departing from the spirit oi the improvements thus speciiically illustrated and described, and l contemplate all such as are included in the scope of the appended claims.

I claim: I

l. The combination of a lantern body having a rear wall, a. bracket for holding the body, said bracket having mounted thereon a bulb holder, a bulb in said holder, the rear wall of said body having an opening large enough to accommodate said bulb and being large enough also in one direction to accommodate the bulb when portions of the lantern body defining said opening are moved to one side, and means for holding the lantern body upon the bracket including a device which provides for applying the body to and removing it from the bracket only when the body is in a lateral position, the body being movable from such lateral position into its normal position with the bulb projecting through said enlarged opening.

2. The combination with the rear wall of a lantern body, of a bracket having a recess in the top thereof, a bolt carried by the body adapted to enter said recess, a nut on said bolt for clamping the parts together and a second bolt carried by said rear wall and projecting through a slot-like opening in the bracket, a nut on said second bolt adapted to bind the body upon the bracket, said slot-like opening terminating in an enlarged opening through which said secondly-mentioned nut may pass, the arrangement providing that when the body is swung to one side the nut of said secondly-mentioned bolt will pass through said opening at the end of said slot and the body may be lifted to move the first mentioned bolt out of said recess.

8. A bracket for a lantern of the character described comprising a substantially flat bar having a pair oi'l recesses normally downwardly directed in its upper edge portion when the bracket is positioned vertically and having below said recesses and on an arc centering in one of them a slot-like opening terminating inan enlarged opening, for the purposes specied.

a. The combination or" a lantern body having walls including a rear wall forming an upper compartment and a lower compartment, a bracket, means carried by the bracket for holding two lamp bulbs whereby when the lantern body is normally applied to the bracket one of said bulbs will extend into the upper compartment and the other thereof into the lower compartment, and means for holding the body readily releasable upon the bracket1 said last-mentioned means including an arcuate bayonet slot opening in said rear wall and a headed clamping member carried by the bracket to cooperate therewith and providing that the lantern body may be applied to the bracket out of its normal position and then swung into its normal position,

be applied to the bracket with the body out of its normal position and then swung into its normal position, and means including a bayonet slot connection device for holding the body upon the bracket when in its normal position.

JOHN JUERGENS. 

